FIG. 1 shows a conventional filing system generally designated by the reference numeral 10 that is accessible by users over a network. A first user at 20 is connected to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) at 30, in which this first user has a browser software package on his or her computing platform, as well as a graphical user interface operating system, such as WINDOWS or MACINTOSH. A second user at 22 has a similar computing platform containing a browser and a graphical user interface operating system, and this user is connected to a second Internet Service Provider (ISP) at 32. Both of these ISP's 30 and 32 are connected to the Internet, which is generally designated by the reference numeral 35.
A central file system is generally designated by the reference numeral 50, which contains a conventional file server operating system and at least one hard disk drive at 52. The file system 50 represents the main core of an Internet web site, which is connected to the Internet 35 via a web server 40 and a user interface software package 42. In typical Internet web site systems, both users 20 and 22 can simultaneously be connected through web server 40, user interface module 42, and to the file system 50, and can simultaneously access various web pages of this web site.
A third user at 24 is connected to a local area network (LAN) using a LAN input-output module, and where the LAN itself is generally designated by the reference numeral 45. A fourth user 26 also is connected to the LAN via a separate LAN input-output module. The LAN 45 is directly connected into the file system 50, and users 24 and 26 will have access to files stored on the hard disk drive, via the server operating system at 52. Some of these files may contain displays that are either similar or identical to those displays made available through the Internet 35 to users 20 and 22.
When a user attempts to log into file system 50, that user must provide sufficient authentication information before the file server 50 will allow that user write or read/write access to any of the files stored on the hard disk drive at 52. A user Authentication module 60 is provided, which typically is in the form of a user login name and a user-specific password.
Once the user has been authenticated, the file system 50 will determine what access rights this particular user will have to any of the files or displays residing on the hard disk drive at 52. This user's access rights are determined by use of an “Access Rights” module at 62. Such rights typically include the right to “read” a file stored within the file system 50, and to potentially “write” to a file also stored on file system 50. In most circumstances, if a user has the right to write to a particular file, that user will also have the right to read that same file, although these particular rights can be different and separate for any given file.
A User Management module 64 is also provided for file system 50, in which new users can be created, existing users can be deleted or otherwise edited, wherein these functions can be performed by the systems administrator. In addition, the user himself or herself can typically perform certain functions, such as changing a password or potentially even deleting oneself from the system as a user altogether. The User Management module 64 could also be fully automatic, such as in the circumstance of certain Internet web sites that allow users to essentially create themselves as being associated with that web site, under the control of software (such as the “User Management module”) at the web site.
A network file system known as “NFS,” similar to the filing system 50 on FIG. 1, can mount remote file systems across homogenous and heterogeneous systems. The NFS consists of a client and server systems. An NFS server can export local directories for remote NFS clients to use. NFS runs over IP (Internet Protocol) using universal datagram protocol. There are NFS implementations that will work using TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) as the network transport service. NFS was originally developed by Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, and is now part of their Open Network Computing (ONC) initiative. NFS has been accepted by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) in certain RFC's (Requests for Comment) as a standard for file services on TCP/IP networks on the Internet.
CIFS is a proposed protocol that defines a standard remote file system access protocol for use over the Internet, which enables groups of users to work together and share documents across the Internet or within their own corporate intranets. While not yet finalized, CIFS is designed as an open cross-platform technology based on the native file-sharing protocols built into Microsoft WINDOWS and other popular personal computer operating systems, and probably will be supported on dozens of other platforms, including UNIX. CIFS is proposed to be an enhanced version of Microsoft's open, cross-platform Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, the native file-sharing protocol in the Microsoft WINDOWS 95, WINDOWS NT, and OS-2 operating systems, and may become the standard way that millions of personal computer users share files across corporate intranets.
Another existing protocol is WEBNFS, which is implemented by Sun Microsystems and which allows accessing NFS shares using Web browsers. The shortcoming of this protocol is that it needs support in the browser, but is not supported in the most of today's existing browsers.
While the above-described NFS and CIFS systems have done much to help standardize the sharing of files in distributed file systems, they do not provide any type of notification functions to users or groups of users when certain accessing events occur. In these conventional systems, if the first user modifies a particular file, only that first user is aware of this modification. A second user who may also have access to that same file would not be made aware of any such modifications, at least not without knowing the time and date stamps of previous saves of that same file.